Major League Soccer polled players throughout the league to find out the most difficult place to play. Whose supporters make their stadium the toughest place to go and get a result? While you can probably guess that Seattle is number 1, some of the other results might surprise you.

1.

Major League Soccer polled players throughout the league to find out the most difficult place to play. Whose supporters make their stadium the toughest place to go and get a result? While you can probably guess that Seattle is number 1, some of the other results might surprise you.

1.

Okay, bad usage of English and slang aside, this one isn't for the kiddies. If ever there was a perfect example of how much of a defensive hack league that MLS is, here you go:Straight red for Mullen and hopefully a multi game ban. Zakauni is out for at least 5 months following successful surgery on his leg, in which both fibula and tibia were snapped like matchsticks.

I'm trying to stay on top of things as I've already gotten a couple emails about this. Now that D.C. United have used their allocation order spot on Charlie Davies, we now have a new leader in the clubhouse.

Dallas did not receive the top spot in their trade with Chivas USA yesterday, when they sent Heath Pearce over for allocation money.

CONCACAF Champions League (CCL)

The Galaxy opened their group stage play with a 2-0 win over Club Motagua of Honduras at the Home Depot Center. Adam Cristman and Landon Donovan each had a goal for the Galaxy with Cristman playing in the role usually occupied by Juan Pablo Angel.

This is the America we dream of.
By Kirsten Schlewitz / Senior West Coast Beer and Aston Villa Correspondent
The 16th season of Major League Soccer kicks off tonight and like a fine wine it has aged gracefully. Or, more similarly, like a teenager thrashing about, some times its a hit.

This photo of Aurelien Collin kind of gives away the winner of Wednesday's 2nd leg tie between Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids, but we're fine with it.

Yes, he and his Sporting KC team-mates are moving on in the MLS Playoffs. They'll play the first of two games on Sunday, squaring off against a 'scrappy' Houston Dynamo side that ended the Farfan twins/Philadelphia Union's dreams of hitting it big time* 3-1 on aggregate.

So we all have seen the Crew schedule has come out by now. Granted it's a comfortable and workable schedule minus the extra CCL games they have this year. They still haven't heard anything about Super Liga but that's not the case here. The league also posted the TV schedule for the 2011 year. So how many games will the Crew play on ESPN?

Awhile back I was scrolling through the Chicago Fire website and went to the 'Roster' page. I went all the way to the bottom of the page and was greeted by the familiar sight of:

Alumni # POS Player Club Age NATL Previous Club No players to display.

I had seen this before but for whatever reason, it hit me a little harder this time.

Photo by wonker

The Daily Mirror reports this morning that Arsenal is seriously considering accepting a £15 million offer to visit Japan this summer as part of their pre-season tour. Arsenal has also received an offer from organizers in the United States for a similar tour.

With the new MLS season about to get under way, I thought it'd be interesting to take a quick look back at the last season to generate some baseline information for putting the league and teams in a little bit of a soccermetric perspective. Without too much ado, here are some basic stats on the league from last season to put you in the mood for soccer made in the U.

In the MLS, teams like to maintain an expectation. See LA Galaxy or Red Bull New York and take in the flash and starpower — watch the Colorado Rapids and you'll witness tough, no nonsense soccer. Most clubs have a brand, a style — something you can count on seeing night in and night out.

Heading into the 2011 MLS season, prognosticators, supporters and casual fans had no idea what to expect from FC Dallas and the Chicago Fire.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The final score, a 1-0 road victory for the Seattle Sounders Friday night, hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things.

Steve Zakuani, one of the up-and-coming talents in MLS known for his ability to make things happen on offense with blazing speed on the wing, suffered what looked to be a broken leg or ankle in the third minute of Seattle's match against the Colorado Rapids.

With the three midweek games last Wednesday MLS had 12 home games the past week with an average attendance of 18274. The Sounders drew over 36000 for a midweek clash against FC Dallas while the Red Bulls managed over 18000 for its midweek game against Colorado. When was the last tine the Red Bulls had 18000 for a midweek game?

The Swope Park Rangers, Sporting KC's reserve side, moved their record in the reserve league this year to 2-2-2 with a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids today at the Swope Park training complex. An early goal by Soony Saad was the lone tally in the game. Both teams had some good chances, in a game that was delayed for a period of time due to lightning.

The Swope Park Rangers, Sporting KC's reserve side, moved their record in the reserve league this year to 2-2-2 with a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids today at the Swope Park training complex. An early goal by Soony Saad was the lone tally in the game. Both teams had some good chances, in a game that was delayed for a period of time due to lightning.

US Soccer has released their evaluations of the US Soccer Development Academy clubs for the 2010-2011 season and one MLS club was rated as the top club in the country out of the 78 clubs that participated.

My pal Daniel over at BigDSoccer pulled this all together earlier and found out that FC Dallas had the top rated academy in the country during the 2010-11 season.

Someone in this pile is wearing Tim Ream's genitalia like a hat. How nice. Image: Mike Stobe/Getty Images North America.

It's taken several hours of screaming, sulking, bribery and threats to stop our resident photoshopper from producing an anatomically correct illustration of the above caption.

I snagged this off the Colorado Rapids' Facebook page. For those who think switching to a winter schedule is a good thing, consider this photo for a moment.

I snagged this off the Colorado Rapids' Facebook page. For those who think switching to a winter schedule is a good thing, consider this photo for a moment.

Watching Major League Soccer highlights last night one might think hockey season broke out. Sporting KC's Kei Kamara mixing it up against Matt Pickens and the Colorado Rapids was the nightcap, but the undercard in the early evening proved to be the most compelling.
The American soccer world is buzzing about the post-game handbags between New York Red Bulls Rafael Marquez and LA Galaxy's Juninho.

Losing Conor Casey was a major blow for the Rapids in 2011. (Getty Images)

A little programming note to kick things off today. Sorry for the radio silence yesterday (except for Geoff's Champion's League previews), I was hardly even able to look at soccer stuff until late in the evening when the two MLS playoff games were on.

Steve Nicol reportedly isn't interested in joining Colorado as head coach. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

Former New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol turned down a possible chance to jump right back into coaching in Major League Soccer with the Colorado Rapids, according to a report on Goal.

Each year around this time I make a list similar to Santa Claus only this list is for each MLS side. The wants and needs for each really at this festive time of the year. Most clubs are as active as ever right now as the new transfer window will set to open here soon, along with the SuperDraft in the coming weeks.

The best part of post-draft analysis is that everyone's opinion may be right. Hometown fans are usually very optimistic and begin that glimmer of hope that this coming season might bring them a championship.
Since nobody can prove my opinions wrong (yet), here is my take on the "super" winners , losers and highlights of the day.

About a week ago I summed up the layered competitions in MLS on twitter this way

Deep teams win Open Cup | Top Heavy teams win Sup. Shield | Lucky Teams win MLS Cup | Great teams make CCL knockouts

Well, with the SBN Power Rankings making a return any day now (as in Monday) let's just look at the two MLS league based trophies.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece continues our preview of the 2011 MLS campaign. Our first four MLS preview pieces are linked below: Number 7: Omar Bravo: Next Designated Player to Fail, or is Sporting KC the place for a revival? MLS Eastern Conference Preview: Five Most Intriguing Sides Number Six: Charlie Davies: The Player, The Comeback, [.

The first week of the MLS season has come and gone and won't soon be forgotten after giving us some unforgettable moments, and thrilling finishes.

Whether it was Charlie Davies' emotional comeback, Juan Agudelo's game-winning goal, or Kevin Hartman's clutch late saves, or Vancouver's thorough dominance of Canadian rival Toronto FC, MLS Week 1 had it all.

We have had one week of action in Major League Soccer which means it is time to update our MLS Power Rankings.

After a season-opening victory, Real Salt Lake maintained its spot atop the MLS Power Rankings, and RSL faces a huge game this weekend against the number 3 ranked LA Galaxy, who will be without Landon Donovan, Alvaro Saborio because of international duty.

We have had one week of action in Major League Soccer which means it is time to update our MLS Power Rankings.

After a season-opening victory, Real Salt Lake maintained its spot atop the MLS Power Rankings, and RSL faces a huge game this weekend against the number 3 ranked LA Galaxy, who will be without Landon Donovan, Alvaro Saborio because of international duty.

Any questions about who the best team in Major League Soccer were put to rest by Real Salt Lake, which didn't seem fazed by missing several of its top players.

RSL put on a clinic on Saturday night, dismantling the Los Angeles Galaxy, 4-1, on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Apr 8, 2011) US Soccer Players – When FC Dallas hosts the Colorado Rapids on Friday night at Pizza Hut Park, the game won't just be a rematch of last year's MLS Cup final. The meeting will also pit two of the best US-born goalkeepers in the League against each other: FCD's Kevin Hartman and Colorado's Matt Pickens.

In the 3rd minute of tonight's MLS match between the Colorado Rapids and Seattle Sounders, Brian Mullan offered Steve Zakuani an ugly challenge that sent one to the locker room and the other to the hospital. The pop is loud and clear and Zakuani's leg immediately goes to mush. Reports are that he fractured both his tibia and fibula and will require immediate surgery.

When Brian Mullan first made his statements about having done such a tackle many times before it was a "non-apology apology" that seemed disingenuous. Seattle Sounders fans were quick to criticize not just Mullan, but Sigi Schmid for his statements supporting his former player. Today though we learn that Mullan is distraught over the tackle of Steve Zakuani and its resulting double fracture.

Colorado Rapids midfielder Brian Mullan has been suspended 10 games and fined $5,000 for his tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg in two places last Friday night.

The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee added nine games and $4,750 onto the automatic punishment for receiving a red card by determining that "Mullan's challenge was reckless, egregious, and showed utter disregard for the safety of his opponent," according to a statement released by the league.

There were eight home games on the docket in Major League Soccer this weekend. Of the eight games, five had attendance numbers above the league average of 17264. Chivas USA had its first sell out of the season thanks to the Galaxy and the Dynamo had it's largest attendance of the season for their game against New York.

Do you celebrate a record number of consecutive ties?

If a tie is like kissing your sister, then what is six draws in a row?

Can you be both winless and undefeated over a month of games?

These are questions for the ages, but the reality is that the Colorado Rapids have now set an MLS mark with six consecutive draws.

Do you celebrate a record number of consecutive ties?

If a tie is like kissing your sister, then what is six draws in a row?

Can you be both winless and undefeated over a month of games?

These are questions for the ages, but the reality is that the Colorado Rapids have now set an MLS mark with six consecutive draws.

This is the fifth, and likely final, season of David Beckham with the LA Galaxy, and as the MLS leaders arrive in Colorado to take on the Rapids, this Saturday night may be the final chance for the midfielder to flash his famous right-footed free kicks at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

If he produces something positive for the Galaxy in the thin air at Commerce City, it will be a sea change for the superstar who has been either absent or a nonentity in Colorado since joining the league in 2007.

Seattle and RSL could be battling it out for a Supporter's Shield this season. (Getty Images)

Aside from a handfull of teams, we are at the halfway point in the Major League Soccer season. Most teams have played 17 games or more at this point so we should have a very solid understanding as to who is contending and who is just flat out pretending.